Nunavik water sampling effort good in 2015, but could improve: KRG

If water plant operators in Nunavik don’t complete and send regular water sample test results, the KRG is obligated to issue boil-water notice to communities. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

KUUJJUAQ — The past year, 2015, marked one of Nunavik’s best years for water sampling in the region’s 14 communities, according to new statistics from the Kativik Regional Government’s municipal public works department.

Water plant operators in Nunavik, who are tasked with taking regular water samples for bacterial analysis, completed an average of 81 per cent of all samplings last year.

“We’re doing pretty well,” said Guillaume Bédard, assistant director of public works Feb. 24 at the KRG during council meetings in Kuujjuaq. “It’s our best year so far.”

But the 81 per cent is still below the department’s sampling goal across Nunavik of 85 per cent, which would ensure safe drinking water for the region.

That’s because in each community where a water sampling test is not completed and sent to the department, the KRG is required to issue a boil water notice.

“Sometime when you see a notice to boil, it’s not because the water isn’t good to drink, it’s just because we didn’t receive the test,” said department director Frédéric Gagné.

“So we’re asking for your collaboration here.”

Sampling responses vary greatly from one community to the next; while Quaqtaq registered a 100 per cent sampling rate in 2014 and 2015, Ivujivik’s sampling rate in 2014 was just eight per cent, increasing slightly to 20 per cent in 2015.

Other communities with low sampling rates include Puvirnituq, which completed sampling just 48 per cent of the time in 2015, and Inukjuak at 64 per cent.

So far in 2016, the sampling rate stands at 71 per cent.

“It looks good and we believe we’ll do just as well as last year, or even better,” Bédard said.

The KRG has recently undertook upgrades to water plants in throughout the region, with the plant in Kuujjuaq still needing an upgrade.

This week, Kuujjuaraapik is hosting the 2016 Nunavik water conference, which will gather all of the region’s water plant operators for training March 2 to March 5.